BJP fires Emergency salvo at Opposition for associating with Congress

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday attacked the opposition parties for “hobnobbing” with the same Congress that was responsible for the imposition of the Emergency in 1975.

Timed with the 48th anniversary of the Emergency, the attack came two days after the Opposition parties met in Patna on June 23 to mull over a plan to jointly take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP leaders who questioned the Opposition leaders included defence minister Rajnath Singh, who was jailed during the Emergency, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak. The BJP leadership annually observes June 25 as “black day” to protest against the Emergency.

In Gautam Buddha Nagar, Yogi Adityanath targeted the state’s main opposition Samajwadi Party.

“People doing politics in the name of JP (veteran socialist the late Jayaprakash Narayan) are now with the Congress which killed democracy,” he said.

In Agra, Rajnath Singh made a similar point as did deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

“All opposition parties, be it the SP (Samajwadi Party), TMC (Trinamool Congress) or AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) are standing with the Congress that imposed the Emergency. We observe June 25 as a black day and people want a country free of Congress misrule,” Maurya said.

The other deputy CM Brajesh Pathak also made a similar point while former U.P. assembly speaker Hriday Narain Dixit demanded an apology from the Congress for the Emergency days.

It was from Patna where Jayaprakash Narayan had launched what was known as the Bihar movement. This ultimately led to a larger movement for the overthrow of the then Indira Gandhi government at the Centre and many believe this led to the imposition of the Emergency, when most fundamental rights were curtailed.

Each year on June 25, JP is remembered by most non-Congress parties and their leaders, many of whom are now part of a joint front, which is in the making against the BJP.